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This Living on the Road is One True Story
tlr: Late at night in a honky-tonk -- the band musicians are on the stage in front of the dance floor ready to begin the night's last set, which consists of the following songs: Big Rain; That's When You Know You're There Where Heartbreak Begins; Now that Grandpa's Come Back Home; Who'll Save Us Both From Lonely Now; Cry Angel Cry; Here's To That Fearful Day; Darling I'll Fight This War for You; 90 Days In the Line; Good Morning, Rifleman; Love's Lost Highway; My How This Old Town Has Changed; Streets of Omaha; Can You See the Blue Ridge Mountains?; Most of All, I Remember; Two Lane Black Top Motel; Home is the Highway; Where that Whip-Poor-Will Still Sings. |
MC/PA system
And folks, now once again, for this evening's last set, back on our stage in this hometown, who all we've all been waiting for to welcome back -- let's welcome back with a big round of applause, those warbling lovebirds of song
names drowned out as band starts playing, patrons clap, cheer etc. as lead songstress (W-SNGR) and lead singer (M-SNGR) come on and take their places in front of the band
M-SNGR
Oh, yeah! Glad to be back! Thank you. Thank you. God bless America, God bless you...and God bless me -- as you can see He's been doing such a great job of it -- on me anyway -- you can believe what you want -- yeah! so glad to be back here with you for one more go-'round tonight -- and don't you worry, I will get my head together -- you think it's an act, add to people's sick excitement here? -- yeah! hee-yah! wouldn't you want that folks, see me fall apart right here? -- yeah, get your picture-phones out -- and we'll sucker you right in with some act of true tabloid...yarghghg...and push me through cause it's the work that I love so...
W-SNGR
Whoa, whoa...oh... Oh yeah! Glad to be back, back tonight -- for so long as the go-'rounds last...always glad to be back for that next go-'round -- with you -- in this performing artist life...it's true, folks; folks, it's true we're deeply deeply thankful for your desiring what we are and do -- so always glad to be back -- ready? -- yeah...back for that next go-round...prove you're still desired...for this living on the music road's like love that always keeps you coming back, back to the one who was to be the one-and-only -- that maybe you're still trying to change -- looking for proof again they love you still -- and your power to win and keep their heart's still strong...love...like you ain't never going to learn no better. So oh yeah, we're ready...ready? Thank you; thank you. They say the weather 'round here's been something else -- and we can believe it, from all I've heard
M-SNGR
like so many other changes coming down...where we don't make no difference in our lives so small and weak -- swept away no matter what we try
W-SNGR
so we mightily appreciate your coming out hear us tonight, yeah
M-SNGR
mighty, mightily appreciate your being with us here in our audience now...thank you...and we think you'll enjoy this first number we've got for you this
W-SNGR
song we've got to start this last set off for you 'bout that mighty rain that just might, just might come down and wash so much away...
M-SNGR
One, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start, etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
Heard on the TV just today,
big, big storm's arising,
heading down our way --
so sure and so surprising
how it will sweep us all away.
What can be the name
of that mighty hurricane?
And what we going to blame
for all our struggling in vain,
lost and angry at the way
final reckoning's here to stay
sure and swift as judgement day?
Out to sea under the sky,
there brews a seethe of wind and rain,
gath'ring up in a swirling eye --
that we'll glimpse harrowed in pain
as down it strikes us when we die.
Big rain, big rain's a-coming,
and you can run but you can't hide.
Big rain, big rain's a-coming,
and you can't set your sins aside.
Big rain, big rain's a-coming,
who's all set for their last ride?
Oh, Lord, oh my, oh don't ask me why,
but can you stand tall in that rising tide?
All the stuff you want to take
grab it up and stay behind,
and when the earth it starts to shake
my guess is you'll say never mind --
but now's too late to get awake.
What can be the name
of that mightly hurricane?
What we going to blame
for our struggling in vain,
lost and angry at the way
final reckoning's here to stay
sure and swift as judgement day?
Hold close your spouse and children,
call your friends and neighbors home.
Only way's now brave right action --
that still won't save you from the storm --
but's still our hope for self-salvation.
Big rain, big rain's a-coming,
and you can run but you can't hide.
Big rain, big rain's a-coming,
and you can't set your sins aside.
Big rain, big rain's a-coming,
who's all set for their last ride?
Oh, Lord, oh my, oh don't ask me why,
but can you stand tall in that rising tide?
W-SNGR
Alright! Thank you -- whoo... And let's thank the members of the band right off for their beautiful music-making, give them a big hand, and let's
M-SNGR
Party on -- whooo-yeah --you go ahead and let it all hang out...cause there's no breaking out of this dark end that's coming down... Yeah, I see you -- go on ahead and buy another 'round and then some -- and then drive home, fast as you can -- maybe you'll get there, maybe you won't -- just don't kill nobody else on your way down...
W-SNGR
No, you don't! -- designated drivers -- yeah, sounds uncool and so tired -- but could save your life -- that still could be well-lived -- so hold, hold back -- and make someone the safety officer for you and your friends tonight and everybody'll get home tonight safe and sound after a good old time and
M-SNGR
Oh, yeah -- and while you're at it why not make someone the designated fool? Be the do-right and believing one -- take care of them that tied it on and are just all gone -- yeah, I know, you could've took that money and paid the credit card company -- but you're going to drink it down instead -- just like I'd be doing with you, hah! -- cause what have you seen waiting behind the tinsel and glam of this dream road -- c'mon, I want to hear you lie to me about the heaven of fame and gold...
W-SNGR
Keep asking so sweetly, and maybe bitterly I will -- but everybody's always free, ain't that right folks -- everybody's always free...to fight for what they know inside is true -- or just let go. So here for our next number
M-SNGR
we got a little love duet for you -- now ain't that cool?
W-SNGR
One for all of you out there know the hard way how hard love can be, fighting to keep it living...or fighting to forget it once it's lost -- and how it hurts when you know it's gone -- that one love that for better or worse was the one where soul and body felt as one, and now it's memory's so individually yours, still shaping how you feel -- so this one's for all you all out there now fighting that sinking feeling now the love you believed in so now's gone...and you know you're there -- where heartbreak begins. One, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
I show you every warning sign,
but you don't see a thing
the way you so selfish undermine
the house we dreamed of true loving.
A man's got more to life than this
being tied up in apron strings.
The boys at night I know they'd miss
all what my bad company brings.
When there's two ways of life and you
can't make one bend and give,
the way love's one story lived by two
divides into two lonely ways to live.
So when inside your heart it says
this is just too hard, let's let it go,
ours are far too separate ways,
love's over now and now we know --
when deep down you just no longer care
who loses and who wins,
that's when you know you're there
where heartbreak begins.
Now there's still time to stop and talk,
find how we don't have to live this way;
together we can still turn and walk
into the dawn of lasting love's bright day.
This side of life so dark and wild
draws me down stronger than you --
much as you and Mama tried
I'm bound to make born-to-lose come true.
Don't we know that having loved in vain,
all our lives we'll pay the cost --
the sad regret, the silent pain --
of love that could have been won gone lost.
So when inside that voice it says
this is just too hard, let's let it go,
ours are far too separate ways,
love's over now and now we know --
when deep down you just no longer care
who loses and who wins,
that's when you know you're there
where heartbreak begins.
When in the dark of dawn we've turned
and strived to clasp two loves to one,
the fire we waked so strongly burned,
it shamed the day's bright morning sun.
That's true I feel but still I'm so
fearful afraid to give on in;
your light of love's so strong I know
but so's the demon dark I'll live on in.
Now that we're here on the knife's edge
is there still time to make amends?
Where's all the trust we once did pledge --
what's true love mean, if true love ends?
So when inside you hear you say
this is just too hard, let's let it go,
go on on yours, I'll go my way,
love's over now, now we both know:
when deep down you just no longer care
who loses and who wins,
that's when you know you're there
where heartbreak begins.
M-SNGR
Oh, yeah, oh yeah...thank you...thank you, yeah -- speaking of which, knowing you're there -- we're glad to be here, oh yeah -- but where are we?
Patrons, in cacophany, shout back hometown info as they keep on milling about, drinking, flirting, and transforming from the band's audience to the enactors of the band's songs and back -- and so throughout.
W-SNGR
And we're so glad to be here in [hometown] yeah!
patrons shout, cheer etc.
M-SNGR
Yeah, here somewhere nowhere USA -- where everyplace is the best place in all the fifty states -- so let's hear it again for [hometown]
more raucous shouting, cheering etc. as band chimes in with drumrolls etc.
W-SNGR
Yeah...and now we got one for you...going down that memory lane of history times
M-SNGR
that somehow got us here -- to this hometown and all the others -- remember it or not -- here's for them Oakies from the Dust Bowl drove to that Southern California golden land
W-SNGR
and from all around the fifty states and whole world now where there's so much moving 'round all the time
M-SNGR
so here's one for that other kind of memory -- one the story of your individual life, and love you've lived...or not -- the other's...oh...the history of them we've buried, and how we tell that story for us all. Yeah, one, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
Feels was just the other day
that Grandpa died, went on his way.
He lived a life near hard and long
as that cruel century now gone.
A boy when that Dust Bowl rose up,
saw his Daddy's farm in dust rolled up,
and Oakies west on sixty-six
like refugees they up and went
in hope that California'd fix
them hard, hard times Depression sent.
Before he died Grandpa made us swear
that us young ones 'u'd take him back there --
his boyhood home of freedom and peace
and now of hard-earned last release:
them hills of Oklahoma
where he was born so long ago;
them hills of Oklahoma
that he always, always loved so.
Kern county's fields as wide as skies
to their hopes and dreams gave hard replies --
lucky to work, still not a thing to show,
that's how his Mama watched him grow.
See, it wasn't poor that hurt her so
but her fear no hope would make him go
so wrong and wild in bitterness
at learning hope and living right's all lies --
in time hard scrabble turns to wilderness
the soul and heart behind them hungry eyes.
Before he died Grandpa made us swear
that us young ones 'u'd take him back there --
his boyhood home of freedom and peace
and now of hard-earned last release:
them hills of Oklahoma
where he was born so long ago;
them hills of Oklahoma
that he always, always loved so.
Pearl Harbor that December day
swept his, so many other lives away
to training camps then far-off shores
to save the world through foreign wars.
He and his buddies met that test --
Guadalcanal, Iwo and the rest
weren't histr'y names but sand and jungle where
some for our country gave that final damn.
His showing how for duty men can care,
I guess why Daddy volunteered for Vietnam.
Before he died Grandpa made us swear
that us young ones 'u'd take him back there --
his boyhood home of freedom and peace
and now of hard-earned last release:
them hills of Oklahoma
where he was born so long ago;
them hills of Oklahoma
that he always, always loved so.
The sun so bright, the land so green
the Earth so dark, the grave so deep
that flag-draped coffin so still beside --
Old Glory through my tears so right.
I'm having now the hardest time
believing the next time is mine.
Once Daddy's gone it's up to me
to keep the scattered fam'ly close,
keep strong the ways that keep us free --
now that Grandpa's come back home.
Before he died Grandpa made us swear
that us young ones 'u'd take him back there --
his boyhood home of freedom and peace
and now of hard-earned last release:
them hills of Oklahoma
where he was born so long ago;
them hills of Oklahoma
that he always, always loved so.
M-SNGR
Thank you...and so much for the time...yeah...that run you over like a stampede, leave you breathing but a cloud of dust...old and alone, looking at all that's happening in the world, big as the prairie sky, and you're that tiny cowboy lost on the lonesome trail...but thank you, thank you...yeah
W-SNGR
Yeah..and now back for another number for you from the love side of life...where individuals and what they value and how they choose to act can matter, and
M-SNGR
Ohh...! And be sure to get me out of bed on week-end morning, take me to some worship house where the humans huddle in their fear -- and improve my life...cause Lord, Lord you know that my life needs it.
W-SNGR
So does everybody else's.
M-SNGR
And prayer's the last resort -- that I ain't got to yet.
W-SNGR
If prayer's going to be our last resort, might as well make it the first?
M-SNGR
And get it over with, right? Right...and now for our next number, we've got another wonderful, wonderful -- jerk down a mighty riverful of tears -- ballad of love gone wrong...or something...that I know you're going to enjoy that's all about, all about
W-SNGR
You don't know what it's about -- like all those whose way of living's killing their feeling -- but you all, you all who've been there too when heartbreak's setting in and all hope is breaking, I know you'll know
M-SNGR
that it's your feelings killing you?
W-SNGR
Hit it boys, one, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
I know your life it started out
cruel and from a broken home;
but down the years you worked it out
so now you've made it on your own.
The drive you've shown's so clearly
drawn its strength from rage repressed;
so you've made those who love you dearly,
pay so in pain for love expressed.
Yes, now I'm at the end of the line;
I've got to save the little left that's mine.
Too long I've tried and I've tried
to bring down your walls and come love inside.
But see how still they stand so stony and tall --
my true love's trumpet's have had no effect at all.
So turning now to walk away
I fear more than I can say --
future I face so dark and bleak,
tears that won't stop burning on my cheek.
But most of all I fear the way
now endless lonely's here to stay:
so I can only pray and wonder how
even God's own mercy might allow
some way to unmake selfishness and hurt,
and save us both from lonely now.
I know here now that we've got more
in houses, cars and million things
than most on Earth would dare implore
their Gods to them in blessings bring.
But what's the use of so much wealth
if in our lives we know not give but only take --
if in this life of riches there's a dearth
of knowing how to live for others' sake.
And yes, I'm at the end of the line --
of having so long and so hard tried and tried.
To my cries for caring you gave no reply,
and now so silent all my love has died.
Yes, see how you stand so cold and so tall --
my true love's trumpet's have had no effect at all.
So turning now to walk away
I fear more than I can say --
future I face so dark and bleak,
tears that won't stop burning on my cheek.
But most of all I fear the way
now endless lonely's here to stay:
so I can only pray and wonder how
even God's own mercy might allow
some way to unmake selfishness and hurt,
and save us both from lonely now.
I know you'll find someone new;
sure, I know that I'll try to too --
but once you've had hope broke in two,
it's hard risking again for love that's true.
How will for us life close at its end?
We can each live carefree, but until when?
For us then time waits right 'round the bend
with old and alone -- and so lonely again.
Yes, now I'm at the end of the line;
I've got to save the little left that's mine.
Too long I've tried and I've tried
to bring down your walls and bring my love inside.
But see how still they stand so stone cold and so tall --
my true love's trumpet's have had no effect at all.
So turning now to walk away
I fear more than I can say --
future I face so dark and bleak,
tears that won't stop burning on my cheek.
But most of all I fear the way
now endless lonely's here to stay:
so I can only pray and wonder how
even God's own mercy might allow
some way to unmake selfishness and hurt,
and save us both from lonely now.
W-SNGR
Amen...Amen... ... then responding to hollering from patrons Yeah...not, not that kind of men -- yeah! but save us from them too! There it is, ladies -- don't you know it -- can't do with, can't do without...well, leastways it keeps them songwriters busy -- maybe happy too -- but the rest of us women...oh! Yeah...oh, yeah...Amen!
M-SNGR
Love ain't the only thing to sing about...and we got a couple songs coming up...next numbers for you...that we'll know you'll enjoy about that...that...oh, I don't know what, you'll have to ask the songwriters, huh!
W-SNGR
About that other side of life that we're all in
M-SNGR
most of all down home in the Southland -- where your past just won't quit you, not your own, not all the different peoples'... C'mon boys, we're tuned up and rolling -- one, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
Like a wind over water
an angel comes hover
o're the ground of the Southland
to shed tears on its pain.
Her taking darkness in her hand
is the sound of the rain
that we sleep through unchanged.
You come back bye and bye
and look homeward aching,
but there's no one there waiting
so cry, angel, cry.
She sees it's all rearranged
where we live so estranged --
the highways and car malls
the houses and towers,
all holding in small walls
our lives with no powers
to sieze freedom at last.
You come back bye and bye
and look homeward aching,
but there's no one there waiting
so cry, angel, cry.
It's the dream and the past
the dark shade they cast
that keeps her come taking
her tries at deliv'rance
but there's no use in shaking
us who look like we're waking
but are walled in a trance.
You come back bye and bye
and look homeward aching,
but there's no one there waiting
so cry, angel, cry.
W-SNGR
Cry, angel, cry...and don't you know they do...for our trials each in our life and for our history altogether...
M-SNGR
So now our next number coming up...that I...well, I don't understand too much -- hey, I'm just a front man for another band from honky-tonk land -- but like...like, um...like how everybody remembers just where they were when they heard and it sunk in...and made like for life before and after in like we're all part of somehow...for my Grandaddy's time I know it was December 7, 1941...and my Dad...his generation...November 22, 1961 and all them other killings of that time and on
W-SNGR
for all you younger maybe it's January 20, 2009 and the hope that sprung up then, that the world don't have to be run by old men too long in power -- and who knows why so angry, their minds so clouded by fear? -- yeah, recognize that, girls, in the big daddies we know? -- yeah...but for us that one or so generation older
M-SNGR
September 11, 2001, um...
W-SNGR
and lest we forget, we sing
M-SNGR
one, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
Jetliner arrow-points sink in,
into the side of towers twin --
watched, re-watched as if a dream,
yet still we woke to terror's scream.
The fireball-bright flame so black
bursting out at moment of attack --
and towers that now twin angels seem
then still, stood still, on ev'ry TV screen.
The dust exploding down the sides
the hurt of lives ending that way --
then felt so strong it still abides,
now, in our mem'ry of that day.
Oh nine-eleven --
here's to that fearful day,
and to all of the children
whose moms and daddies still aren't home today.
There for you now and later
is here your promise and mine,
as our sorrow grows greater
with the passing of time.
Think back on rubble's flag-raise and bless
our heroes' fall, our heroes' success --
the lives they lost, the lives they saved --
as those stars and stripes so proudly waved.
Yes, the casualties in this new war
aren't fighting soldiers anymore,
but everyday just yous and mees --
so take we on our new responsiblities.
Like those who there did fight and die --
so everyday but to doing right so true --
if you protect and defend well knowing why,
then the flags that wave, they wave for you.
Oh nine-eleven
here's to that fateful day
and to all of the children
whose moms and daddies still aren't home today.
There for you now and later
is here your promise and mine
as our sorrow grows greater
with the passing of time.
The best ideal in our nation's story
is securing rights for all equally --
not empire nor martial glory
make for living free in liberty.
So caring deep for others rights
as dearly as your own re-lights
the mem'ry flame that ascends so bright
so long as we serve strong the right.
Now we remember together --
though loss of loved ones is suffered alone --
and though no mem'ry's forever,
this one's still strong and our own.
Oh nine-eleven
here's to that fateful day
and to all of the children
whose moms and daddies still aren't home today.
There for you now and later
is here your promise and mine
as our sorrow grows greater
with the passing of time.
W-SNGR
Oh, yeah...thank you, thank you...and who knows what might have happened next if we'd spent all, all that the money on the teaching and schools that parents -- gone or not -- dream for for their children -- and not the vengeance without end of endless wars we end up not winning...
M-SNGR
Hey! haven't you been listening to our self-congratulating, super-successful...yeah!...political and military leaders -- we've been winning from the start, that's why everything's working out so well over there...yeah...always exactly as their far-sighted leadership promised...and so now for our next number...one for all of you that have been over there...that we know you'll all enjoy...in the cold and mountains or the dust and sand...in distant lands now killing floors...
W-SNGR
and for all you who've waited for their coming home, committed to keeping the fires of love and home, alive in the hearths of your hearts -- no matter how short the money or how wearing-long the absence...yeah...isn't that right, the way the big boys all forget -- there's a duet there too -- of them that deploy and of them left back home, alone with the kids and the bills and the longing and resentment -- to cope and wait...alright, one, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
Here in this torn and distant land,
now silent, as this rifle in my hand,
moving past my gunsights I can see
how much's here too of nature's beauty.
I think of you taking on your day,
back home, from here oh so far away --
but better I not now forget the way
here death comes loud and quick, often and to stay.
Not sure for what I'm fighting here today,
troubled I've made orphaned children, widowed wives --
and I sure don't know how true's all what leaders say,
just know my buddies each for the other we'd give our lives.
Until you/I come home back to me/you,
I'll soldier on bravely/too
in this my home front destiny/until this my war is through.
Yes, until,
together again, and home living free
for honor and dignity,
and God if there's one there,
weak but yet shielded by hope from despair
holding fast, so strongly and true,
darling I'll fight this war for you.
Here in the sprawl of this loved land,
as worn and worried, on my morning drive I wend,
moving past my windshield I can see
how much's here too of violence and poverty.
I think of you -- there doing what a man's called to do --
but I still feel abandoned, and it's killing my love for you;
I see the kids missing you -- oh, it's hurting them too --
something in me is breaking -- and there's all the bills coming due.
Not sure why I'll stay in there and see it through,
to how all we'll be changed, to the hard times ahead --
to what there'll be left of my dreams for loving you --
I guess just to test if destiny's suffered or life can be led.
Until you/I come home back to me/you,
I'll soldier on bravely/too
in this my home front destiny/until this my war is through.
Yes, until,
together again, and home living free
for honor and dignity,
and God if there's one there,
weak but yet shielded by hope from despair
holding fast, so strongly and true
darling I'll fight this war for you.
W-SNGR
Oh yeah...thank you...so anytime you think you're having a tough time with your life, step back and think like it's take a look around time
M-SNGR
See if you can see the...the what they're trying to keep down, make sure stays in denial -- yo! like what're are your problems? and why do you want to see 'em? -- whoo! -- I'm having another bad hair day today, huh?...having another just can't break those habits day
W-SNGR
See if you can't see the weakness they're trying to hide, why don't you? Oh, thank, thank you -- we really appreciate it
M-SNGR
Well, I'll try to believe -- reform -- again tomorrow -- heard that one out there too, huh? -- another day tomorrow...and dried out, focused and working hard
W-SNGR
likely still a distant dream -- thank, thank you -- we really do appreciate it -- we really do. Whoa! how'bout that? thank you -- y'all see it? -- you carry a flag like that 'round with you all the time?
M-SNGR
Yeah! like that's one other thing you can carry around in them big fashion bags, huh? So yeah! -- and we feel that way too -- wave away and cheer -- keep the emotion and conviction hiding how stupidly wasted
W-SNGR
No! Like we honor -- not the fighting -- but the sacrifice -- all those who have sacrificed -- and suffered -- so much for our sake and we remember them always
M-SNGR
making sure we forget they maybe just caught up in angry old fools' big mistakes -- all the way to the mothers' mourning, yeee-haw! -- give me your son, and I'll give you back this folded flag. What a deal. Lady, how can you turn it down?
W-SNGR
No! We are truly grateful for the service of all our men and women in uniform and we honor their service keeping us safe
M-SNGR
from non-existent WMDs and other useful, fill-our-hearts-with-fear bullshit
W-SNGR
how can you believe our leaders would deceive us like that who serve faithfully and honorably -- isn't that right? yeah! -- so most of all we honor the memory of all now in harm's way, fighting and dying for our country
M-SNGR
unnecessarily
W-SNGR
No! That can't be.
M-SNGR
You're absolutely right, just can't be...admitted. Like every time I decide to get high, I know I've made the right decision.
W-SNGR
Stop it!
M-SNGR
You're right. Who needs that kind of facing the facts. Hey! motioning to waitress/bartender etc. Yeah! And bring me another here -- make it two -- and keep 'em comin'! Thank you. And now folks, we got our next number for you here, which we know you'll enjoy which we dedicate to all our men and women in uniform keeping us safe in foreign wars
W-SNGR
Don't say it if you don't mean it.
M-SNGR
so we can stay home, not think about, and have a good ol' time like right now -- yieieieie-hahhh! -- making music, dance and drinking -- and making money most of all -- while somebody else's war goes on, over there somewhere, and we get to have the romance and glamour of the doctored combat footage on the news --one, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR
We keep them in mind always, and think about their sacrifice with pride and reverence!
M-SNGR
makes us feel so much better about it all, don't it?
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
Ninety days in the line,
and my mind's no longer mine;
I'm owned all through by life of war,
no matter what I'm fighting for.
Distant dream of going home,
'fraid who I'll be'll be unknown;
back in your arms but acting strange;
but it ain't me controls the change.
That time's now's so far away
cause I'm still here all live-long day;
got to fight on for my pride --
so here's to someday later by your side.
Hup, two, three, four,
don't know if I can take some more;
guess I will -- yes, I will
stay on in there strong and still.
Ninety days in the line,
and my mind's no longer mine;
I'm owned all through by life of war,
no matter what I'm fighting for.
*
By a river in Babylon
yea, I sat down
and wondered how much more
can I get tired of holding on
to the dream of a just war?
By a river in Babylon,
rifle in my hand,
I stood by a willow tree
looking at a killing ground
of collateral casualties.
In this war in Babylon
how many more will there be,
taken like little ones
dashed against the stones,
all killed so unnecessarily?
In this war in Babylon
who will answer for me,
who taught my hand to fight
and my fingers to war,
for my killing innocents mistakenly?
By the waters of Babylon
yea, I stand and weep
as I remember America
and our dream of rights secured for all,
but war we've sown, so now war we'll reap.
*
If I die in a combat zone
zip me up and fly me home;
in a bag of desert, cammy gray
wrap my one, short life away.
Bury me by the shopping mall
so I can hear them six lanes humming all night long;
grave right there by the parking lot
where she first went down on me so hot.
If she asks you why I died
tell her angry old men's reckless lies.
I love my country as my life,
but this mistake ain't worth this price.
This war, I'd be glad to do my part for it,
if just there'd been true reasons for it.
If I die in a combat zone,
zip me up and fly me home.
*
Ninety days in the line,
and my mind's no longer mine;
I'm owned all through by life of war,
no matter what I'm fighting for.
W-SNGR
Yeah...alright...and now one more for all us here home waiting, fathers and husbands and sons too...and wives and daughters, and most of all mothers of our boys over there
M-SNGR
specially if you're going to be waiting a long, long time.
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
Good morning, rifleman,
it's time to wake and go;
all dreams with dawn must end --
the day's ahead you know.
Does dawn some way break o'er there
where may be, may be you're waking now,
as I, in your empty room back here
beside your bed in prayer I bow?
Yes, I was proud that you'd a soldier go
to serve to fight our country's wars,
it's just that then I didn't know
it'u'd make my heart all open scars.
Down all the years I helped you grow,
was it for this I loved you so?
Your room, unchanged, my mind o'erwhelms --
your stuff for sports, your music things,
intact from boyhood's sunny realms,
darken me mad with loss your memory brings.
I still hear the knock that day -- aie me, instant of dread --
and loomed at my door in uniform two men
"Ma'am, we bring bad news," the chaplain said,
and all joy in living ended for me then.
So, good morning, rifleman,
morning brings my mourning day
to my mem'ry of you there's no end,
so I'm going on to cry and pray,
and decorate with flag and flowers this way,
grave, now for me every day's Memorial Day.
W-SNGR
Yeah... Thank you...thank you -- and all our hearts go out to those enduring with such loss.
M-SNGR
Specially if it didn't have to be that way, and the big boys they just fucked up big-time in their strategic decision-making.
W-SNGR
Won't you stop? Damn you! They meant well, anyway.
M-SNGR
Don't we all, and don't that blind us all? Hey, whatever you say. Why'd anybody want to see the obvious anyway, right folks? We meant well. So that gets us off the responsibility hook for killing all those people by mistake? When the collective self-delusion, conventional wisdom line comes down that's got to be believed, the wise know how to keep their silence. So now we'd like to introduce the members of the band cause we know you've been enjoying
W-SNGR
their fine music-making
M-SNGR
and cause without them, we'd be nothing.
W-SNGR
Yeah! Whoo! I know you appreciate them too!
M-SNGR
There they are, where they've been the whole time.
W-SNGR
In the back on the drums
M-SNGR
keeping our percussion fever high
W-SNGR
let's hear a big thank-you from you as you hit your hands together for
M-SNGR
from [hometown] in the great state of [home state]
W-SNGR
[name]!
M-SNGR
And on the bass, keeping our music-train on track from [hometown] in the great state of [home state]
W-SNGR
[name]!
M-SNGR
Yeah! Alright! For all that know this ain't just work, it's play in rapture.
W-SNGR
And with us on guitar
M-SNGR
Bringing you all that strumming and picking that sounds so right you sometimes wouldn't know it's there from [hometown, home state, etc.]
W-SNGR
[name]!
M-SNGR
And
W-SNGR
And before we go on don't forget folks that clips and pictures, stories and downloads, merchandise and full details on all our upcoming appearances are on our website at [show's/band's website] -- that's [show's/band's website].
M-SNGR
Oh yeah, all kinds of great merchandise -- just in case you don't got enough tee-shirts, other junk you don't know what to do with, got no place to keep but just can't do without, right?
W-SNGR
All our merchandise is caringly designed and of the highest quality.
M-SNGR
Just like our music, which will soon be made in China too. Hee-yah! and li'l darlin' over there, can I have another of these imported whatever I'm drinking over here?
W-SNGR
Oh, I don't think we need anymore refreshments up on stage right now.
M-SNGR
Yeah we do -- cause we got to raise up in respect, drink to the health and honor of the master of that bended note -- that'll just squirrel up your spine and leave you twingling -- on pedal-steel, the man/woman that gives this music its unmistakable, authentic tone -- right over here, let's hear it in a big way for
W-SNGR
from [hometown, home state, etc.]
M-SNGR
[name]!
W-SNGR
And right behind him/her, pouring on the honey, buzzing sweet as bees, on the fiddles, let's hear it for from [hometown, home state, name, etc.]
M-SNGR
And singing of honeyed sweetness...folks, folks, some say that birds -- cause we never see them old and dying, and they sing -- are immortal like pagan gods or songs that sing your life -- and when she sings, right here beside me -- every state has a state bird and if the United States had a songbird be the kissing cousin of that old bald eagle, it'd be her -- from [hometown, home state, etc.] whisperer of wisdom to the heart like only singers can -- let's hear how you feel about her -- [name]!
drum rolls and riffing from band, raucous pandemonium from patrons etc.
W-SNGR
Thank you, thank you, and now...whoo, maybe I need a drink too...as we head into the last couple songs we have for you tonight, just want to make sure you know how honored we are you're here
M-SNGR
We'd be nothing without you too.
W-SNGR
There it is. What's a singer without a band and an audience? Love you, and love you -- and maybe even still love you...Yeah! Thank you -- with all my heart -- and yeah, I'll take some more -- we all need all the encouragement we can get down this road of trails and tribulations, ain't that right?
M-SNGR
Oh, yeah -- so here's a little song for you 'bout all them trials and tribulations -- don't you know it -- of love's long winding, lost highway.
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
These times are times so hard for lovers,
all work and dollars,
only time for me and mine.
The pace, the race
all keep our lives untouched by others --
so it's so hard to cross beyond temptation's line.
But cross we did --
still why's it now so hard
to keep what was for fun and games
from tempting us to dream toward
keeping burning the fires of love's eternal flames?
Think back can you,
and I'll try to think back too --
how life's force at play when first we met
did draw us in to love's dark minuet,
and numbed all our fears of how hard it can get.
So no, don't pretend -- cause lies can't be fixed --
don't say the words if your heart can't take the risk.
If only we could love and not wish we knew
if our love is real, if this time it's true --
as down love's lost highway 'lone we go,
darling the truth is always hard to know.
What's it matter if it was choice or chance
that made us partners in this blinding dance?
But in it now can we choose to stop or stay
or do hopes and hormones have the only say?
If there's the strength in you and me
to give in to true love and be set free,
cut loose the pride that won't let let go,
and will to trust -- but still never know.
Think back can you,
and I'll try to think back too --
how life's force at play when first we met
did draw us down to love's dark minuet,
and numbed all our fears of how hard it can get.
So no, don't pretend -- cause lies can't be fixed --
don't say the words if your heart can't take the risk.
If only we could love and not wish we knew
if our love is real, if this time it's true --
as down love's lost highway 'lone we go,
darling the truth is always hard to know.
W-SNGR
Thank you, thank -- and now here's one more 'bout the trials and tribulations -- this time those of time and trying to go home again
M-SNGR
for all you all out there with daydreams to hook back up with long-lost first love one-and-only
W-SNGR
it's the love you never get over, where soul and body opened as one -- no matter how bad they turn out. Alright! One, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
It happened with no plan
or any end in mind,
a business trip and there
I was, surprised, brought back --
plaything of circumstance --
I
to all I'd left behind:
that old hometown on which
I'd never once thought back.
Driving down that road
off from the Interstate
the tide of memory
rolled on me like a shove
making me ask me why
I chose the lonelier fate --
left my happy childhood home
and joy of our first love.
And here I am again
on those same streets back when
we walked so close hand in hand
so sure our love would never end --
our gaze locked in each other's eyes
lost and found in love's long surprise,
so trusting and questionless
in first love's wild tenderness.
And my how this old town has changed,
now all upscale stores and coffee bars,
around, the open land all re-arranged
trussed up by roads jammed with fancy cars;
main street's old facades been re-looked a mall,
and the whole town trapped in tracts and sprawl.
All seems to shout money's glistering hold,
and end of our more modest life-of-old.
I have to close my eyes
to see and feel how plain and bare
were those high-school halls
so turbulent with tension and noise
where our first glances and smiles
led us from talking to together everywhere.
We were all hope, trust and desire,
believing that's just how it is for girls and boys.
Of all the lovers I have known
you were the kindest company.
Of all the kisses lived on my lips
none ever touched as strong and calm --
as light of stars in vast, clear night
touches our eyes upcast from Earth below
making us feel our home so ours and so small --
so in your arms I felt resplendent peace.
And my how this my life has changed,
so like this town that's grown so cold --
such outward success, such inward decline --
yes, I've done well enough I guess
but somehow what matters been so re-arranged
that I don't know how to walk the line
't'ween wise acceptance and coward compromise.
But then, here I am again
on those same streets back when
we walked so close hand in hand
so sure our love would never end --
our gaze locked in each other's eyes
lost and found in love's long surprise,
so trusting and questionless
in first love's wild tenderness.
And my how this old town has changed,
now all upscale stores and coffee bars,
around, the open land all re-arranged
trussed up by roads jammed with fancy cars;
main street's old facades been re-looked a mall,
and the whole town trapped in tracts and sprawl.
And there do I see someone down the street
walking like you to the corner where we used to meet?
W-SNGR
Thank you, thank you, and now
M-SNGR
and now -- man, these are good, imported or not -- hey li'l darling how 'bout another up here -- for one tired troubadour -- thank you, thank you
W-SNGR
No. I don't think so. No! Don't want anymore...thank you, thank you... and now folks
M-SNGR
And I still don't go for what you changed the words for like that? Yeah, always got to put that glimmer of happy ending in there, or what would people believe? Oh yeah, going to find that long-lost ol' home-town true-love right there on search-up -- and he ain't going to be unemployed and wasted in that heartland wasteland greed and globalizing left behind -- and you're going to take him back right up to your mansion on the hill -- that ain't even co-located there anymore -- but on some other social planet now...where money flows...like drugs down here...man, I need a break...cause I'm breaking from all this just-don't-want-to-know -- yeah! alright! here's to all of you having another -- cause there ain't nothing waiting for you out there but more fast and furious huckster jive, ain't that right?
W-SNGR
No..whoa... Oh, no...please...
M-SNGR
Oh yeah -- just 'cause you can tell people what to believe, doesn't mean you can tell them how to act.
W-SNGR
What? What does that mean? And you got to compromise to get anywhere and you know it -- people are depending on us for their living, for God's sake. Oh...folks, folks, looks like we got out plans here crossed a touch, missed a cue on what's the next song in our set for you and we're
M-SNGR
Doctor it up right now, make people not see what they're seeing, like we all get to end up the send-up of ourselves -- folks, folks, we're just stepping over here confer on what we know's our next song for you -- that we know you'll enjoy -- and it's scripted too how people bury all the pressure-drop on them from how tight the screwing them down goes on. Thank you, thank you -- and you can keep them coming -- we're almost finished anyway, and I can handle...and no this ain't in the slickster script of hokester-jokester, picture perfect image and emotional remote control...and what the hell, I'm breaking, falling, falling, falling for fool's gods -- I mean, gold -- again...ohhh....
W-SNGR
No you don't
M-SNGR
Yeah, I do
W-SNGR
You committed you'd stay on
M-SNGR
Image-package that'll take you to the top with all my songs
W-SNGR
Where'd you never come close without me
M-SNGR
So I'm busting out of this corporate ball cut-off right now
W-SNGR
Can't you just hold on, and keep holding on
M-SNGR
At least as long until you suck up into starland and don't need me anymore -- you'll fit right in there in new toonsville, Nash- Hollywood South -ville
W-SNGR
That's so wrong and unfair -- cause you don't have what it takes to be professional -- so feel so sorry for yourself it slowly kills you -- just be disciplined, stick to our development plan, can't you?
M-SNGR
No. And I ain't alone. How 'bout you all out there, can you? See..and ain't that the whole problem -- and fact is I'm writing a song about why right now -- for all you out there know why them habits be breaking you long before you break them
W-SNGR
Oh no, we're not going off on some unscripted half-baked...ohh...make breaking bad habits your best habit, and slam the door on them with no, no way...can't you?
M-SNGR
No. And ain't that the truth out there beneath the living like we're on TV? Where'd their business be without us huh? And here's to who knows why.
M-SNGR&W-SNGR singing as band improvises behind them
I know there ain't no happy ending
to the use-up of our lives;
so what's the use pretending
through cheerful, friendly smiles?
So here in quaking expectation
I find I've brought myself again,
twisted, like this thrill I'm taking
is my last and only faithful friend.
Oh, I see you don't see,
but what I need don't let me
see the way you do;
you're right to see me in pity
maybe more than myself I do
uhh...man, it gets to where you just forget the words to your own songs...
Yeah, so come on and take me on
stops it all a while while you're around --
so here's to blinding down again today --
ain't that why them hopeless habits
always get their way, don't they?
W-SNGR
and others also always pay the cost. And now for our next number we know you'll enjoy
M-SNGR
This is kind of a rambling song you can say...whoa..ohh..I think I was in Omaha when I wrote it..but...I don't remember exactly..huh...sounds like it anyway, but could be about anyplace...not Omaha that I'm picking on..just happened to be there..I think..how can you know when you're down that far..surprised you got there...somehow...could be anywhere...so gone even your own dog don't want to know you...and how did you get yourself there? But whoa, here I am...
W-SNGR
This next song expresses all our sympathy for those we know down on their luck and how we keep them in our thoughts and prayers
M-SNGR
On our way to worship the making of the God-almighty dollar -- right there in Omaha heart of the credit card industry -- so forget the prayers and leave just a few green ones cause that's what they been praying for -- enough pay all them taxes on whiskey now so no need go cheap and cranked up you got the fleas from the dog come jump all over you like you got this grey crust of creepies you just can't rip off your own skin...wharghgh! Don't look at me like that! You think
W-SNGR
Folks, folks
M-SNGR
No, you wouldn't want to think that -- me? now? you? -- it's just part of the act, just like everything else so for this next song we've got for you that we know you'll enjoy...uhhuhh...gets so
W-SNGR
He's just rambling cause this is kind of a rambling song you can say, but just happened to be in Omaha -- so we're not picking on Omaha or anything like that
M-SNGR
Cause you could be anywhere when you're down and out and nobody wants to know you so where don't make no difference at all. One, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
Out on the street,
but I'm getting used to it.
Go on, just walk on by,
ain't no call to back away --
it's only me
I'll be hurting today.
Can't recall at all
how I got here this way --
don't no one set out
to end up down and out.
So you, one in the crowd
that flows by so busy and proud,
here down in the canyon
'tween the wide office towers,
look straight at me now
so shaky and slow on my feet --
one more bum on the street.
And yes of all the hurt
that in this world I've known,
ain't nothing hard and cold
as these streets of Omaha
now I call home.
Out on the street,
but I'm getting used to it.
Go on, just walk on by,
ain't no call to back away --
it's only me
I'll be hurting today.
Blessed are they
who never wake to the day
thinking only of when
they can get high again.
So c'mon, let it go,
just a dollar or so --
that yeah, I'll take and deal
to rush me from here
where I won't care or see
the filth caked on my feet --
one more wreck on the street.
And yes of all the hurt
that in this world I've known,
ain't nothing hard and cold
as these streets of Omaha
now I call home.
Out on the street,
but I'm getting used to it.
Go on, just walk on by,
ain't no call to back away --
it's only me
I'll be hurting today.
Go on to work down your day
it's better that way --
that you don't dream what's done
down on the dark side of fun.
You know it ain't rocket science
that reaction to the velvet violence
of business takes care of business
burns rough in society somewhere.
I too wish I didn't see
how predatory the people all treat
each other in the life of the street.
And yes of all the hurt
that in this world I've known,
ain't nothing hard and cold
as the streets of Omaha
now I call home.
Out on the street,
but I'm getting used to it.
Go on, just walk on by,
ain't no call to back away --
it's only me
I'll be hurting today.
Try with all my might
don't know how I got through the night:
thought I had a friend in this town,
but pressure-drop takes it out on them down --
weren't nothing left to take from me,
but still he pulled a gun on me.
So c'mon, help me out
you, me, and your world and mine
still both in the same morning sun
'neath that wide, high plains sky
that holds this whole city so small.
And I'll remember your kindness,
if I ever get back on my feet --
one more loser lost on the street.
And oh of all the hurt
that in this world I've known,
ain't nothing hard and cold
as these streets of Omaha
now I call home.
M-SNGR
Yeah... thank you.
W-SNGR
And how far gone is gone before you decide it's time to to turn back, climb back and come home -- where all still love you who still wait and wait.
W-SNGR
Yeah... where you be taking me to sing prayers in the choir, like that don't make it worse.
W-SNGR
Cause we're all hard at prayer, trying against the odds, ain't that right?
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
And I can see the Blue Ridge mountains
if I raise my eyes up away from here;
the tears that make them now brimming fountains
are the years of longing for you and home my dear.
Oh over yonder down Sorrow Mountain's shadow
can you see the valley burnished green and gold?
It cradles there the river where joy's bright waters flow --
so walk close with me now to stand in hope untold.
Yes I can see the Blue Ridge mountains
if I lift my eyes up away from here;
the tears that make them now brimming fountains
are the years of longing for you and home my dear.
There past the shed roofs, truck lots and highway,
suburban homes, high-tension wires and fields beyond,
there's the river's valley, sun-strewn and still so far away;
oh I would walk there, heart uplifted -- but I still despond.
Can you see the Blue Ridge mountains
if you lift your eyes up away from here?
As the tears that make them now brimming fountains
are still the years of longing for you and home my dear.
'Mid orchards' pendant boughs, rich wheat fields' ripples
and among the farms where horses loll in pasture --
from them one-room buildings graced with steeples,
can you hear the humans lift their songs of rapture?
Shenandoah, oh Shenandoah,
how I long to walk, now in your shining/earthly peace.
Shenandoah, oh Shenandoah,
embrace of home at last, once life's wanderings/errances cease.
W-SNGR
Thank you, thank you -- and don't we need it, each and every one of us
M-SNGR
Cause it be too hard to do without it, and live with nothing to feed that fear machine upside your brain, that like they moma to a crying child only music can console.
W-SNGR
What? And now for our next number which we know you'll enjoy -- that like all our songs are by Izzabella and Shenandoah Slim -- that's Izzabella from aie-zee-zee-aie-songs-dot-com -- that's izzasongs-dot-com -- and the aie-zee label -- this one's
M-SNGR
From Winchester Virgina -- just where I happened to be there when I wrote it -- where Patsy Cline was born in 1932, and old old folks could back then still fix a child's eyes in their own and tell the feel of when their eyes as children saw Moseby's Rangers riding through the woods or Stonewall Jackson tall in the saddle by his troops tramping through the town, or the Federals' cavalry come like banshees burn everything down -- and land and people that knew themselves through their history there all happy shoppers right now in more and more sprawl and shopping malls, yeah! Soon the whole damn country be a suburb of Washington DeeCee.
W-SNGR laughing
Oh, cut it out. What's wrong with shopping? Ain't nothing wrong with shopping -- what's a body to do if they can't buy clothes all day? Ain't that right -- nothing like sweep down like a raiding party through them clothes stores, compensate your life's disappointments and frustrations trying on and buying on? Ohhh...tell me!
M-SNGR laughing
Sure enough, ain't nothing wrong with shopping -- ain't that why I go to the whiskey store near every day?
W-SNGR laughing
And the name of the next song we're going to write is Ain't No Going On, If You Don't Break Yours (And, Yeah, I'll Break Mine) -- but anyhow the name of this song
M-SNGR
To you with all our hearts from what used to be the hills of western Virgina that's now just some new, suburban Somewhere, USA
W-SNGR laughing
Where we can all live happily ever after in safety and prosperity watching TV and going to the mall
M-SNGR laughing
Hell, you can even get married there too
W-SNGR laughing
Tell me about it sometime
M-SNGR laughing
Have a house, couple kids -- I mean cars
W-SNGR
Right, big cars -- bring the kids up driving so we can make them good global citizens -- like aware the Earth is our silent partner in this human adventure
M-SNGR
Tell me about it sometime
W-SNGR laughing
Maybe, but now the name of this song -- from the hills of western Virginia where Patsy Cline
M-SNGR
is Most of All, I Remember
W-SNGR
One, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact, etc.
From distant days,
what touchstone stays
to lift us away
to welling mem'ries' sway?
Now for us all
it's so hard to recall
that our old songs so true
were once all so brand new.
Back then through mighty summer night
in loving fam'ly so safe and right
kids packed tight in the back
as through the static's flack
the metal radio up front blared
the songs 'bout which they so much cared
up front in love they sang along
as on that road home we drove on
the new songs sung
when mom and dad were young.
And oh my now how I remember
Ray painting his heartaches by the number
while Hank longed to melt her cold, cold heart,
Conway laying there beside her
with that jez'bel on his mind,
Loretta's proud home in the holler
made by daddy's work in the coal mine,
Dolly in her coat of colors walking back from school
so confused and angry her friends treated her like a fool,
the tears Merle's moma must've cried
seeing what still happened though she tried,
and how Tammy weren't in no spelling-bee
when she sang 'bout dee-aie-vee-oh-are-cee-ee.
But now how I wish I could forget
as I recall with hard regret
the songs I didn't understand back then
but now know I'm living when
through padded doors
under neon lights
onto dance floors
of music-crazy nights
I'm living that life again
of long nights and bright lights.
There where,
Kitty's so wrong 'bout them honky-tonk angels
that I still believe God made,
as a last-hope consolation
for lives folded like hands mis-played.
But where,
Lefty's so right 'bout their kisses,
always late cause not just your own --
but even in their heaven's earthly blisses
I still long for your love for me so gone.
Yes, here where
like for so many, true love once was mine
but I didn't have in weakness and temptation
Johnny's strength to stay true and walk the line.
So out there where beyond redemption
I'm walking after midnight looking for love in vain --
haunted by time, and longing and losses' pain --
I hear like back with mom dad and kids again
clear from states away on night's broadcasting towers
singing our lives with true art's proudest powers
that voice -- cut short before its time
like the happiness that once was yours and mine --
yes then, most of all, I remember Patsy Cline.
From distant days,
what touchstone stays
to lift us away
to welling mem'ries' sway?
Now for us all
it's so hard to recall
that our old songs so true
were once all so brand new.
M-SNGR
And now for our next number -- soon to be our last, and everything has its last time around -- on this going round and round circle-running Earth that we all call home
W-SNGR
And now what's got into you?
M-SNGR
One we know you'll enjoy...cause that's what only songs can do, folks, turn your shame at all the hurt you've caused by letting go into temptation's arms into something to enjoy
W-SNGR
Whoa, boy -- here it comes, and I know I'm going to fall. For all you out there tonight -- God sees you -- with the one that ain't the one maybe waiting faithfully back home -- think about it twice
M-SNGR
Tough, ain't it? Cause you don't want to think at all when you see how beautiful they look, and only thing in mind is taking the thrill they're promising
W-SNGR
drive 'em home
M-SNGR
still won't keep you out of trouble -- and all them secret hiding place motels on all them two-lane black-tops be out of business
W-SNGR
just drive 'em home and let it go -- cause what cheating's worth the hurt and anger of the one you're cheating on, if they love you still?
M-SNGR
I know. One, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.).
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
I never thought I'd meet someone
whose eyes would sudden lock on mine,
then she/he so slow in time'd become
the one taking your place on my mind.
I tried to fight it off so long
but even loving in your arms I'd long
for her/him I felt was so wrong,
but knew her/his temptation'd prove too strong.
Sure as we're sinners born and bred
I met with her/him and oh in weakness then,
to fierce love in some motel bed
we fell so fast, and now again and again.
And lying here beside you
in what was our happy home,
I can't bring myself to tell you
how for so long I've felt so alone.
And yes, I hear you softly crying,
and I too don't mean to be unkind,
so kiss my lips to keep them lying
'bout how my plans leave you behind:
it just hurts too much to tell you
how I wish I didn't love her/him, but I do.
When she/he and I together steal away
there's no denying desire's dark sway,
as breathing hard and eyes in eyes
we fold up in blind lovers' paradise.
And though I try with all my might
forget the tender talk she/he gets so right/forget the way she/he thrills me through the night,
here with you now living a lie
I feel so vile and guilty I could die:
oh how with her/him in that two-lane black-top motel
sweet cheater's heaven burns like hell.
I never thought I'd let you go,
you who've long spoke to my best,
you who I've so long needed so --
but her/his embrace leaves me no rest.
"Yes, I've got something to tell you,"
isn't that how this begins?
But to hurt you and own up to...
oh courage fails before my sins!
How could your heart so wholly shattered
still hold in anger any love for me from you?
So I'll hold you now like we still mattered --
oh how I wish I didn't love you, but I do.
And lying here beside you
in what was our happy home,
I can't bring myself to tell you
how for so long I've felt alone;
and yes, I hear you softly crying,
and I too don't mean to be unkind,
so kiss my lips to keep them lying
'bout how my plans leave you behind:
how much it hurts, it hurts to hurt you --
oh how I wish I didn't love you like I do.
But when she/he and I together steal away
there's no denying desire's dark sway,
as breathing hard and eyes in eyes
we fold up in that lovers' paradise.
And though I try with all my might
forget the tender talk she/he gets so right/forget the way she/he thrills me through the night,
here with you now living a lie
I feel so vile and guilty I could cry:
oh how with her/him in that two-lane black-top motel
sweet cheater's heaven burns like hell.
M-SNGR
And one more for the road, to heaven, hell -- or both...and oh yeah...the glamor's only gone for them's that lived it -- and maybe wish they didn't have...so for our next number, which we know you'll enjoy
W-SNGR
we've got an on-the-road song...after the cheating song, got to have that on-the-road song or the whole story of this living on the road wouldn't be all there...so come on boys, no reason for delaying
W-SNGR
time's to sing these move-on blues -- one, two, three, four (or other signaling of the band to start etc.)
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing, accompanied by band, as patrons carry on, enact etc.
Here I am home on the highway,
now the only home I know;
so just keep distance coming my way
as forever down the road I go.
Big sky, big country, concrete ribbon,
this emotion for me's enough to live on.
Home is the highway
where I live lost, only for today --
broken dreamer living my way
here home somewhere nowhere USA.
Oh my but I've
long lost the nothing
I had left to lose;
now freedom's only something
for helping sing these move-on blues.
Open up long road before me;
amber land, spacious skies around me,
leave my memories behind me,
and like in living golden glory bury me.
Home is the highway
paved in heartbreak and pain
of lives used up then tossed away --
oh how hope lost drove insane
all who never dreamed your dream'u'd turn out this way.
Big sky, big country, concrete ribbon,
this emotion for me's enough to live on.
Home is the highway
where I live lost, only for today --
broken dreamer living my way
here home somewhere nowhere USA.
So let me
ride tight them white lines
straight to I-don't-care.
Home is the highway
and I'm planning on dying there.
What's it matter what's my story?
I'm always leaving don't you worry--
over my shoulder here comes the memory
of why I'm a man who wants no history.
Yes, home is the highway;
here there's no tomorrow
and no yesterday.
Here moving hides from me my sorrow
at the ruin of my life today.
Here I am home on the highway,
now the only home I know;
so just keep distance coming my way
as forever down the road I go.
Big sky, big country, concrete ribbon,
this emotion for me's enough to live on.
Home is the highway
where I live lost, only for today --
broken dreamer living my way
here home somewhere nowhere USA.
M-SNGR as band musicians start taking bows and going off
That's all folks -- all we got... And thank you, thank you
W-SNGR
All we got cause now we got to go -- but we'll be back sometime through here...
MC/PA system
And folks, folks now let's hear it again, one more round of applause to bring them back sometime to back on our stage in this hometown -- here we always make sure our good-bye's as warm as our welcome -- let all know we'd welcome them back for a visit anytime...yeah! those warbling lovebirds of song
names drowned out as patrons clap, cheer etc. as lead songstress (W-SNGR) and lead singer (M-SNGR) take their leave of their audience
M-SNGR as band musicians go off
Thank you; thank you -- can't say it enough we know -- but we'll be back sometime through here -- always coming back I'm told's what happens if you stay living -- alive -- on this living on the road. Good night, good night -- and thank you, thank you -- and God bless each and every one of all -- even all I don't see how he's going to reach...yeah, I reckon...we all get to live our own true story...sad and nowhere as it can be -- but still it's still our stand-alone, own story, ain't that right?
W-SNGR
What? And oh, oh yes indeed -- don't forget to come back -- cause we want to come back to you -- someday maybe -- cause like all our fans you're part of our story 'cause without you
M-SNGR
We'd be even more broke and unknown -- so now we're going to use you to get famous -- don't that make you feel respected?
W-SNGR
What? Oh! And you know like that true song has it, we'd be nothing without you and we love you so we'll be back so in the meantime please be sure to keep checking in at [band's/show's website] -- that's at [band's/show's website] -- our upcoming appearances, downloads and merchandise -- and I think we got some ceedees and tee-shirts for sale right here out...
M-SNGR
Oh yeah! -- that way you can wear our brand -- why we're musicians now...
W-SNGR
What? And oh all kinds of great downloads for your digital players and all the latest videos and news all about us
M-SNGR
all fiction, made up by our publicists -- just like we all want it -- ain't that right? But y'all be sure to come visit, spend some money so you can be part of our story...'cause what we got to give you just through the music just ain't enough?
W-SNGR
No -- not nowadays, not ever -- and you still got a ways to go before you learn how to play this game -- and y'all, y'all, we love you, we do -- don't for a moment believe we don't appreciate your patronship..um..customership -- it too's a kind of like some give-and-take, that can reach and reach...like some kind of love -- thank you, thank you, good night, good night -- that's it, so why drag on good-byes -- til next time, we're gone -- good night!
M-SNGR
Oh yeah...to silence like forgetfulness...
W-SNGR and M-SNGR go off as patrons drift off as cleaning up the night's debris begins as the honky-tonk/road house closes up as the last, die-hard patrons stay on wanting an encore, passed out etc. -- or they reprise some of their earlier enacted roles -- and W-SNGR and M-SNGR come back on for a last, acapella(?), duet.
W-SNGR&M-SNGR singing
Tell me now, when in the ruins
of love and lives so badly led,
do we just shrug off our guilts and angers,
and mute like dancers go to bed?
Tell me now, what else is out there
in the silent homes, the darkened streets --
but to fold up, buried in that power,
live as love, lethal as sleep?
So tell me, tell me, tell me won't you
why we make it end hurting so --/why we let it end hurting so --
stealing my restless nights with you --/stealing my peaceful sleep beside you --
oh where oh tell me, tell me won't you
so far from heaven here below,
does love's loss and spent emotion go?
Place where the mournful rolls along
as that freight train whistle moans,
place where the lonesome goes
sent by the whip-p'r-will's sad song.
Place where our heartbreak sends
longing to sing the pain love means,
place where that lost highway ends
in the land of lovers' broken dreams.
And tell me, tell me how we got to
here from there where love was true --
how wearying time made me forget to
heed what my heart vowed to you?
And tell me, tell me where we go now
as the night there waits outside --
how hope and habit make us know now
how we could walk there side by side.
So tell me, tell me, tell me won't you
why we make it end hurting so --/why we let it end hurting so --
stealing my restless nights with you --/stealing my peaceful sleep beside you --
oh where oh tell me, tell me won't you
so far from heaven here below,
does love's loss and spent emotion go?
Place where the mournful rolls along
as that freight train whistle moans,
place where the lonesome goes
sent by the whip-p'r-will's sad song.
Place where our heartbreak sends
longing to sing the pain love means,
place where that lost highway ends
in the land of lovers' broken dreams.
THE END